The Machines of Experience

I think about my bicycles quite often. Recently, a very basic and simple idea occurred to me. Bicycles are experience machines. The time (and sometimes money) I spend on building and maintaining different bikes allows me to have positive experiences that I value. It’s worth the effort – the payoff is unique and great.

Each bike in my fleet has been built with a specific purpose in mind. (The Schwinn Le Tour is an exception. I bought it brand new and I have only changed the tires and stem and added racks.) With each build, a new possibility is available to me.

I bought my first real bike (Schwinn le Tour) from a bike shop almost four years ago. Through it I found a type of exercise I enjoy, a more extensive knowledge of the geography of my area and a sense of confidence as I reached various cycling goals.

Last summer I built a mountain bike. It’s a fully rigid, steel frame of unknown manufacture (I’m pretty sure it’s a Giant, though I don’t know if it was branded as such or was manufactured by them for another company). That bike allowed me to begin exploring some great off-road terrain in my area. I loved mountain biking immediately and every time I get out on that bike I feel like I am treating myself.

My “townie” bikes have allowed me to complete errands without driving. I love being able to sneak in a little riding time whenever I can. It’s not exactly high adventure, but it’s good for me.

Late last summer I also finished a singlespeed road bike build. It was a revelation. I found that I could do a lot more with one gear than I thought I could. It was also one of the rare builds where almost everything worked exactly right for me right away. I did end up switching to slightly more narrow tires, but the moustache bars/riser stem/25” road frame combination was perfect immediately.

Even though most of my bikes are built from frames and parts found in the garbage or online for low prices, I still would be reluctant to ride them in the winter. I was having a great riding fall last year and I didn’t want to stop when the snow came. I built a winter beater out of an old Raleigh Grand Prix frame and I learned a lot about layering wool clothing.

Early this summer I finished my touring bike. It’s based on a very tall (24”) Ross mountain bike frame. I got the frame and fork from ebay a while ago for $6 plus shipping. After overcoming a stuck bottom bracket cup (thank you propane torch) I built it up with trekking bars, front and rear racks and an insanely low climbing gear (24 X 34). Two weeks ago, I took it on a sub 24-hour overnighter (s24o) to test it out. Touring was one of the things that I was interested in when I got into cycling as an adult. This bike will be my ride for more s24o adventures this summer and possibly a multi-night tour.

I finished a (sort of) cross bike build recently, too. I found a Raleigh 700c hybrid frame in a dumpster two years ago. It took me a while to decide what to do with this bike until I realized that it would make a great cross-type bike. It has a triple crankset and slightly larger than ‘cross –legal tires, but I don’t plan to race it. I went on a lovely mixed-surface exploration ride and this bike did all that I wanted it to do. It was fine off-road and fine on the pavement. None of my other bikes could have done as well.

My last personal project (for now) is a lightweight go-fast type of bike. I was given a Viscount Aerospace Pro last year by a neighbor. He had let it sit in his backyard for a while, so my first order of business was to make it ride-able. It wasn’t as bad as it could be; I only needed to replace the saddle, tires, chain and some cables. It rode pretty well and seemed light and fast. The frame size was in the lower end of my size range, so I thought it might make a good go-fast bike. I got down to work and did a 700c wheelset conversion, a bar and stem swap (I had some Cinellis on hand) and an installation of a racing saddle and aero levers. The initial test ride of this set up seems to confirm my expectations for speed and agility.

Pic from 2009. This is the initial basic build to determine some of the frameset's characteristics.

Thinking about all the things I can do with my bikes motivates me to do more building and refining of completed builds. I’m grateful to have found an active hobby about which I am passionate. Cycling adds so much to my life and is good for my mental and physical health. I am also encouraged to complete more donation bikes so that others might be able to have positive experiences, too.

Personal Bike History Part 3 - Adulthood

After I graduated from college I didn’t think much about bicycles for a while. I started working in my chosen field. I drove a lot. I had a pretty far commute for work. I was also in a band that travelled for gigs. I was the main van driver and I spent many hours behind the wheel.

Eventually my heavy gigging days came to an end. Around this time I had a roommate that moved out and she left behind a bike. It was a dark green Royce Union Savoy – a department store “mountain” bike. The wheels were bent, so she never rode it. I got the wheels fixed at a bike shop and decided to try and ride it around town. I got a seat post rack so that I could carry stuff. I occasionally rode this bike for errands and exercise. I would ride to the post office (I was selling a lot on ebay at this time) and on a multi-use path.

The bike did not inspire me to keep riding, though. It was very heavy and it didn’t fit me very well. The wide knobby tires provided much rolling resistance. I often felt sore, tired and winded after riding this bike. I attributed this feeling to the fact that I was out of shape. I had a mental image that riding was painful if you weren’t in top physical condition. The bike spent a lot of time chained to a fence in my backyard.

During this time I made my first visits to Europe as an adult. I visited Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland and Denmark in two separate summer trips. I saw a lot of bicycles in use (especially in Copenhagen, of course). The bicycle began to creep back into my consciousness.

While visiting a friend in Finland, we borrowed two of the family’s bikes to ride into town one evening. We had so much fun exploring the area on two wheels. I have a fond memory of scooting around the town in the glorious evening light of Scandinavia.

I wish I had been a cyclist during this period of my life. I was single, I had time and a little bit of money. My trips to Scandinavia, great as they were, would have been so much better if they were bike tours. I probably didn’t really know what bike touring was, though.

I went through a motorized two-wheel transport phase before I became a full-fledged bicycle enthusiast. My wife (fiancé at the time, actually) decided to buy a new Vespa scooter. It was so fun to ride. I soon bought one of my own, a Genuine Stella which is a metal bodied, manual shifting copy of a late 70s Vespa. I really liked it. I rode it to work, I rode it around town. We quite stylishly arrived at our wedding rehearsal on scooters. When I wasn’t riding it, I spent a lot of time reading books, magazines and websites about scooters.

Scootermania lasted for about a year and a half.

A few things contributed to its demise. First of all, my wife became unenthusiastic about the scooter. Hers was somewhat unreliable mechanically and it visited the shop a few times in that first year. She decided to sell the Vespa after one year of ownership. We also bought a house that did not have a garage. I kept my scooter under a tarp in the backyard (not exactly secure) and I sometimes parked it in the basement (not exactly safe).

Slowly, I began to think that I might enjoy bicycles more than scooters.

We visited two summer vacation places where bikes are popular – one in the mountains and one by the ocean. We didn’t ride in the mountains, but we did rent a tandem to ride on the boardwalk by the sea. The tandem was old, out of proper adjustment and not sized well for us (me in particular) but it was fun. Then, pretty soon after we married, we visited some friends in an urban area. We had our morning coffee near a multi-use path and we saw many families enjoying their bikes. I remember seeing a bike with a kid trailer behind it and I knew that was what I wanted. My wife and I planned to have a child someday and I couldn’t see myself EVER transporting my darling offspring on a scooter. It didn’t seem safe. I felt confident in my scooter driving ability and I didn’t think that I took unnecessary risks on it but I didn’t trust the car drivers around me. Suddenly, the scooter didn’t seem like the proper choice for a person well on his way to having a family.

I began feeling envious of cyclists that I passed on my scooter. I liked the idea of getting away from the gasoline engine and the simple mechanics of the bicycle was also appealing. I was intimidated by working on the scooter myself. Bikes were a different story. I had tinkered around with them as a kid and I thought the bicycle was something I could understand.

Eventually the above reasons plus the realization that I could make some quick cash made me come to the decision that I should sell the scooter. I told myself that I would replace it with a bicycle.

The scooter was sold on ebay for a fair price, ironically to a young, new father.

I began doing research and visiting bike shops. Luckily, the first one I visited made a great impression on me and it became my favorite bike shop. I was impressed by the salespeople and I liked the feeling of the place. I liked that the staff urged me to take my time and to test ride many bikes before making a decision. They provided lots of great advice. For example, I was of the impression that I should by a hybrid and work my way up to a road bike. One of the salesmen urged me to consider a touring bike instead, pointing out that the more comfortable geometry and wider tires would provide a more accessible ride. I saw his point, but I wasn’t ready to commit the resources towards a full-fledged touring bike like the Surly Long-Haul Trucker he suggested. I wasn’t sure I was going to stick with cycling.

While I was researching, I was also attempting to ride my Royce Union Savoy occasionally. I was not doing well. I was having trouble riding the thing to a park only a few miles from here. I remember feeling exhausted after riding. After test riding some bikes at the shop, I knew that this bike wasn’t helping me any.

I made a database of all the bike models that I came across. I compared wheelbase lengths, chainstay lengths, tire widths, gearing and frame materials. I was pretty much locked in to purchasing a bike from my favorite bike shop because I had received some gift certificates to that store from family. Luckily they carry quite a few bike lines and they have a wide selection of inventory.

I settled on the 2007 Schwinn LeTour. I didn’t notice it at first; the 2007 Schwinn catalog was pretty poorly designed and none of their bikes appealed to me all that much. When I got into the specifics, however, I knew I had found my entry-level road bike. I liked the relaxed geometry, the 700 X 25c tires (with room for something a little larger) and the rack braze-ons. I wasn’t thrilled about an aluminum frame, but I chose the model with a steel fork. A winter sale came up at the shop and I got my gift certificates together and bought the thing. I am very glad that I did. That bike has been perfect for me. It’s my main bike and it will be for many years to come.